Fouzi Khalid Abdullah Al Awda
| place_of_birth = Kuwait City, Kuwait | date_of_death = | place_of_death = | detained_at = Guantanamo | id_number = 232 | group = | alias = Fawzi Khalid Abdullah Fahad al Odah | charge = No charge (extrajudicial detention) | penalty = | status = Still held in Guantanamo | occupation = | spouse = | parents = | children = }} Fouzi Khalid Abdullah al Awda is a Kuwaiti citizen held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. He has been detained without charge in Guantanamo Bay since 2002.list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006documents (.pdf) from Fouzi Khalid Abdullah Al Awda's Combatant Status Review Tribunal He is a plaintiff in the ongoing case, Al Odah v. United States, which challenges his detention, along with that of fellow detainees. The case is widely acknowledged to be one of the most significant to be heard by the Supreme Court in the current term. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 232. The US Department of Defense reports that he was born in 1977, in Kuwait City, Kuwait. U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's ruling on Al Odah's habeas corpus petition was published on September 1, 2009. She ruled that the USA could consider Al Odah was an "enemy combatant". As of April 22, 2010, 2009, Fouzi Khalid Abdullah al Awda has been held at Guantanamo for eight years two months. Capture According to an interview Fawzi's father, Khalid al-Odah, gave to Amnesty International, Fawzi traveled in 2001 to the Pakistan/Afghanistan border area in order to do charitable outreach work,Interview with [[Khalid al-Odah], father of Fawzi Al-Odah who is detained in Guantanamo Bay], Amnesty International, June 1, 2005 Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Fawzi fled Afghanistan, intending to return home to Kuwait. Fawzi successfully crossed the border into Pakistan but was then captured by Pakistani bounty hunters. The bounty hunters handed Fawzi and eleven other Kuwaitis over to American authorities. The Kuwaitis were then transported to Cuba. ''Al Odah v. United States'' Al Odah v. United States is a writ of habeas corpus petition on behalf of Guantanamo detainees. This consolidated case currently represents four plaintiffs: Fawzi Khalid Abdullah Fahad Al Odah, Fayiz Mohammed, Ahmed Al Kandari, Khalid Abdullah Mishal Al Mutairi, and Fouad Mahmoud Al Rabiah. Al Odah v. United States was originally filed April 2002 on behalf of twelve imprisoned Kuwaitis, including Al Odah, seeking the right of habeas corpus. The case was dismissed in May 2002 following a government motion to dismiss the habeas corpus petition.[http://ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/al-odah-v.-united-states The Center for Constitutional Rights Case Synopsis] On June 28, 2004, the Supreme Court issued an opinion on a related Guantanamo case, Rasul v. Bush, affirming the right of Guantanamo detainees to challenge their imprisonment in the U.S. federal court system. Under this ruling, detainees such as those represented in Al Odah would be able to file habeas corpus petitions in U.S. courts. In April 2007, the Supreme Court declined to hear two cases challenging the Military Commissions Act: Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. United States On June 29, 2007, the court reversed that decision, releasing an order that expressed their intent to hear the challenge. The two cases have been consolidated into one.FindLaw docket for Boumediene v. Bush (No. 06-1195) and Al Odah v. US (06-1196), including amici briefs Oral arguments were heard on December 5, 2007. The decision, striking down the Military Commissions Act, was handed down on 12 June 2008.Justices Rule Terror Suspects Can Appeal in Civilian CourtsTranscript of Supreme Court oral arguments for Boumediene v. Bush (No. 06-1195) and Al Odah v. US (06-1196) On July 18, 2008 David J. Cynamon filed a "PETITIONERS’ STATUS REPORT" in Al Odah, v. United States Civil Action No. CV 02-0828 (CKK) on behalf of Fawzi Khalid Abdullah Fahad Al Odah, Fayiz Mohammed Ahmen Al Kandari, Khalid Abdullah Mishal Al Mutairi, Fouad Mahmoud Al Rabiah. mirror He wrote that they were the four remaining Kuwaiti captives in Guantanamo. He wrote that none of the four men had been cleared for release. He wrote that the government had completed "factual returns" for all four men—but those factual returns had contained redacted sections. Combatant Status Review Tribunal s were held in a 3x5 meter trailer where the captive sat with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11, 2004 - mirrorInside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004 Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed. ]] Initially the Bush administration asserted that the protections of the Geneva Conventions do not apply to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct a competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status. Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an enemy combatant. An officer working on Al Odah’s case reported that the Combatant Status Review Tribunals were often pressured into delivering verdicts favorable to the government, according to an affidavit filed in June 2007.affidavit (.pdf) from Fouzi Khalid Abdullah Al Awda's Combatant Status Review Tribunal Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham worked as a liaison between the CSRT’s and intelligence services, and stated that intelligence services regularly and arbitrarily denied both the defense and prosecution access to case-related information.Guantanamo tribunal officer says CSRTs pressured on 'enemy combatant' rulings, The Jurist, June 22, 2007 Al-Odah chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. He gave a detailed, point by point reply to the unclassified allegations against him. There were also some accusations his interrogators kept contronting him with, which were not included in the unclassified allegations, that he chose to address. Allegations The allegations Al-Odah faced during his Tribunal were: The factors for and against continuing to detain Fouzi Khalid Abdullah Al Awda were among the 121 that the Department of Defense released on March 3, 2006.Factors for and against the continued detention (.pdf) of Fouzi Khalid Abdullah Al Awda Administrative Review Board - pages 12-14 - May 4, 2005 The following primary factors favor continued detention: The following primary factors favor release or transfer: Meetings with attorneys On September 28, 2005, the Associated Press reported on a meeting between attorneys Thomas Wilner and Kristine Huskey and their Kuwaiti clients.Lawyers Visit Detainees on Hunger Strike, Washington Post, September 21, 2005 According to Wilner and Huskey, al-Odah and four of his compatriots, were on a hunger strike and had lost a dangerous amount of weight. They reported that al-Odah had been force-fed and could barely sit up. Human Rights critics argue that the detainees retain the right to give or withhold consent to all medical procedures. According to Fawzi's lawyer, Thomas Wilner, Fawzi wanted Wilner to file a legal request ordering the removal of his feeding tube. Wilner did file such a request because Fawzi's family was "frantic" and opposed the motion. Wilner said that at the time, Fawzi looked "like a skeleton". Al-Odah told his lawyers that camp authorities had warned the hunger strikers that they would start strapping them in "restraint chairs" during their force-feedings.Gitmo detainees say force led to drop in number on hunger strike at U.S. base, Findlaw, February 9, 2006 In an interview in Marie Claire magazine Huskey described her surprise that when she first met with Guantanamo clients, like al-Odah, they preferred food brought from Guantanamo fast food outlets to the Arabic delicacies she and her colleagues had brought from the Continental US. She reported that Al-Odah's favorite was MacDonald's French Fries and ice cream. Media Editorials Fawzi Al-Odah's father, Khalid al-Odah, wrote an Op-Ed in the Washington Post, on September 2, 2006, entitled: "Put My Son on Trial -- or Free Him".Put My Son on Trial -- or Free Him, Washington Post, September 2, 2006 In the article Khalid argues that "hundreds of innocent men sit in prison", who could have been freed, if American authorities had granted them the protections of the rule of law and granted them a fair trial in a traditional court of law. Al Odah's father stated that Fawzi had always been an admirer of the American system. The Washington Post identifies Khalid Al-Odah as the founder of the Kuwaiti Family Committee. It states: :"The writer founded the Kuwaiti Family Committee four years ago to secure the legal rights of foreign nationals imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay." The New York Times editorial board has spoken out in favor of the plaintiffs in the Al Odah v. United States case, calling it "the Supreme Court showdown of the year".“Civil liberties groups — and this Editorial Board", write the editors, "believe it is important for the Supreme Court to make clear that the detainees have a constitutional right to have a judge determine whether they are being properly held.”.The Supreme Court Showdown of the Year, The New York Times, October 23, 2007 On May 12, 2007, the Kuwait Times reported that Kuwait and the USA concluded negotiations regarding the repatriation of the remaining Kuwaiti captives. Nevertheless Khaled Al Mutayri, Fouzi Khalid Abdullah Al Awda, Fouad Mahoud Hasan Al Rabia and Faiz Mohammed Ahmed Al Kandari continue to be held as of August 1, 2009. US District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kottely ordered the immediate repatriation of Khaled Al Mutairi on July 29, 2009. According to The Jurist the habeas corpus cases for the other three men are expected to conclude in August and September 2009. Kollar-Kotelly ruled on Al Odah's habeas corpus petition on August 24, 2009. The 32 page ruling was published on September 1, 2009, after classified portions had been redacted. She ruled that the USA could consider Al Odah was an "enemy combatant", without regard to whether the training camp he attended was actually the al Farouq training camp, because he had acknowledged attending a training camp, for a single day. See also * Guantanamo force feeding References External links * Who Are the Remaining Prisoners in Guantánamo? Part Three: Captured Crossing from Afghanistan into Pakistan (1 of 2) Andy Worthington, September 22, 2010 *Kuwaiti Family Committee is a site with details about the Kuwaiti detainees. *Prisoner's father hopes courts find, fix 'big mistake', USA Today, April 19, 2004 *Guantanamo man tells of 'torture' BBC News, March 3, 2006 *Guantanamo interview: full transcript, BBC News, March 3, 2006 *Kuwait to Guantanamo Bay, Al-Ahram, February 27, 2005 *Guantanamo man 'wants to starve', BBC, October 26, 2005 *Human Rights First; Habeas Works: Federal Courts’ Proven Capacity to Handle Guantánamo Cases (2010) Al-Odah, Fawzi Khalid Abdullah Al-Odah, Fawzi Khalid Abdullah Category:1977 births Category:Living people Category:People from Kuwait City